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ALEXANDRIA
EGYPT
WOODENCOFFINSFROMTHEMOSLEM
CEMETERYATKOMEL-DIKKA
IwonaZych
Theunexpectednessofthediscoveryof
woodencoffinsataMoslemburialground
atKomel-DikkainAlexandria,1)hinting
ofpracticesnotinthemainstreamburial
tradition,warrantsafewwordsofad-
ditionaldescription.
Bothcoffinburialsseemtohavebeen
secondaryinternmentsandbothhavesuf-
feredfromthespecificconditionsofthe
site.Thewoodinthecaseofthecoffinin
graveE-3wasinfairlygoodcondition,but
manyoftheelementsweremissing.In
graveE-9A,theboxwasapparentlylargely
preserved,althoughcrushedbyimploding
stonewallsofthetombstructure,butthe
conditionofthewoodwaspoor.Ineither
casethedamagesaretooconsiderablefor
thereconstructionoftheformtobe
anythingbutdubiousatbest.
Thewooddoesnotappeartobeofthe
samespeciesinthesetwocoffins.However,
untilexaminationbyanexpertlittlemore
canbesaidonthesubjectexceptthatit
wasdefinitelynotpalmwood.2)
Thewoodworkingtechniqueisskilled,
theboardsdressedsmoothly,andespecially
inthecaseofthecoffinfromgraveE9A
cutverythin,1cmwhentheruleisrather
2cm.Tracesofsawingcanbeseen,andthe
roughpartsonsomeelementsevincethe
difficultythecarpenterhadindressing
someofthepieces(aroundknotsin
particular).Thetechniqueitselfandthe
toolsusedremaintobestudied.
COFFINFROMGRAVEE3
Thesurvivingelementsofthiscoffin
includeabouthalfthelengthofalong
board,theheadboardandapieceofthe
footboard,andfivebeamuprights(Fig.1).
Thelongboardwasactuallyvery
cleverlymadeoftwonarrowerboards,
joinedtogetherwithavirtuallysquare
tenon(5by4.5cm,0.3-0.5cmthick)set
equidistantintoaslotcutintotheside
edgesoftwoboards(Fig.2).Thefitwasnot
snug,buttheholdwasfirm,sincetheslots
werenotexactlyoppositeoneanother.The
tenonmusthavebeencuttosizetomatch
thepartofthetwoslotsthatmeets(4.5cm
long).Thetenon-in-slotsjoiningofthetwo
boardsoccursinaboutthemiddleofthe
survivinglengthwhichis92-95cm.The
combinedwidthofthetwoboardswasat
least40cm,thethickness2cmattheshort
edges,thinningto1.6cmneartheother
1)
Forthediscoveryandtheworkatthesitethisseason,seereportbyG.MajcherekandW.Kołątajinthisvolume,
especially,pp.21-22.IamgratefultoDr.G.MajcherekforpermissiontopublishthesefindsandtotheLanckoroński
FoundationfromCracowforagranttostudyworkedwoodinLondonin2002.
2)
IamindebtedtoDr.T.WażnyforidentifyingthewoodofthecoffinboxfromgraveE3aspine(Pinuspinaster).
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